What Each Atlantic Division Buyer Needs at Trade Deadline

The NHL Trade Deadline is going to be approaching not long after the Olympic break ends in a few weeks, and the Atlantic Division has teams that are going to be buyers. Not every Atlantic Division team is going to be buying as some should be selling.

But as for the buyers, there are five of them in the Tampa Bay Lightning, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, and the Boston Bruins. The Lightning, Red Wings, and Canadiens occupy the top three spots in the Atlantic DIvision and the Sabres and Bruins occupy the two Eastern Conference Wildcard spots.

Each buyer has different needs that they should address for their playoff push, as the season only has a little bit of time left. With that being said, the Atlantic Division is super competitive and it is tough to tell right now, based on additions before the deadline, who is going to win it.

Lightning: Scoring Forward

Tampa is one of the league's top teams and has a decent chance of winning the Stanley Cup this season. But if they want that to happen, they need not rely on the usual suspects to score goals for them in Jake Guentzel, Nikita Kucherov, and Brandon Hagel.

The Lightning are currently without superstar Brayden Point, as he got hurt right before the Olympic break, and Point is also one who can put the puck in the net. And if the Lightning are going to be without him for a while, they need to look on the market for a scoring forward that is not too costly.

Red Wings: Depth Defenseman

The Red Wings have one of the league's best defensemen in Moritz Seider and one of the best upcomers in Axel Sandin-Pellikka. But there is always room to add to their blueline as they could use more experience come playoff time.

Sandin-Pellikka has no playoff experience and could end up struggling a bit. So adding someone before the deadline, someone who has experience, would be ideal for Detroit.

Canadiens: Bottom 6 Forward

Montreal's top six is loaded with guys like Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Ivan Demidov, among others. But their bottom six is not as strong as they are either veterans that do not do a whole lot or guys that have needed changes of scenery.

And for Montreal, you can never get enough forward depth for a playoff run. They are a team that needs some depth in their bottom six, as long as the price is not too steep for these kinds of players.

Sabres: Backup goaltender

The Sabres have been a great hockey story this year as they may snap a very long playoff drought. And when it comes to the playoffs, goaltending is super important and the position that is needed the most.

Alex Lyon has made quite the emergence for Buffalo, but their backup goaltending is suspect as of the current moment. They could use an upgrade over Colten Ellis, as he has not been great sharing the starts with Lyon and in the case Lyon gets hurt, they need a more experienced backup.

Bruins: Depth forward/scoring forward

The Bruins have a lot of guys in their lineup currently who could be considered depth guys outside of David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie. They currently have Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha out, who they get decent offense out of as well.

The Bruins are going to need to have plenty of scorers if they want to go far in the postseason. So it would not be a bad idea for general manager Don Sweeney to scour the market for somebody who is not too expensive to help with this problem.

Make sure you bookmark Breakaway On SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage, and more!